Today, Navy Admiral James Stavridis, head of U.S. Southern Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iran is increasing its activity in Latin America. According to Reuters, Stavridis said: "We have seen…an increase in a wide level of activity by the Iranian government in this region." He added: "That is a concern principally because of the connections between the government of Iran, which is a state sponsor of terrorism, and Hezbollah."
Last October, the Colombian government said that a drug ring it had broken up was suspected of laundering for and sending cash to Hezbollah. Stavridis added new reasons to be concerned about this nexus. "We have been seeing in Colombia a direct connection between Hezbollah activity and narco-trafficking activity."
On a related note, Todd Bensman has been investigating Iran's presence inside Nicaragua. Iran promised all sorts of economic development projects to Daniel Nortega's born-again government. But when Bensman went to investigate for himself, he couldn't find any evidence that Iran was delivering on its promises. However, here is an example of what he did find:
…But the Iranian diplomatic mission that American national security experts most feared was sure up and humming with activity. It has steadily expanded its "staff," according to some scattered local Nicaragua news reports.
I also discovered that suspected Iranian Revolutionary Guard operatives had been moving in and out of the country in unusual ways that assured secrecy. For instance, I was given ministry of migration documents that show a senior Nicaraguan minister had allowed 21 Iranian men to enter without passport processing. This was exactly the kind of activity that preceded the Argentina bombings in 1992 and 1994. It's the same kind of secretive movement going on in and out of Venezuela that gives current and former American counterterrorism officials - and Jewish communities in the region - the cold sweats.
Bensman is right that more people should be concerned about what he found in Nicaragua. As they say, read the whole thing.
